Residents of 3 Brooklyn buildings with 851 recorded open violations rally for help

Residents of three crumbling buildings in Brooklyn that city records show have more than 800 housing code violations are withholding rent after a botched real estate deal left them with an absentee landlord.

Responsibility for the buildings has been in dispute since owner Rubin Dukler, now deceased, sold part of the portfolio to Iris Holdings Group for $6.2 million in 2019. Since then, lawsuits between the two owners, tenants and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development have created a legal tangle with no relief for the people living in the buildings, an advocate working with the building tenants said.

“We’re caught in the middle,” said Michelle Stamp, 60, whose family has lived at 1392 Sterling Place for over 50 years.

Stamp’s 23-unit building has 488 open housing code violations, including 403 that are “immediately hazardous” or “hazardous,” according to property records. The infractions range from roaches, mice and mold across the three buildings, where water damage has destroyed walls, floors and ceilings.

“It’s horrific,” she said. “You can’t eat at the table because if you ever made a mistake and left your plate out, the roaches will kill you…We can’t have a normal life.”

“HPD is taking aggressive action to ensure that the owner corrects violations and improves conditions in these buildings,” said William Fowler, a spokesperson for HPD. “HPD litigation against the owner is proceeding, our Anti-Harassment Unit is supporting inspections, and our Alternative Enforcement Program is in full swing.”

Stamp and her neighbors have been withholding rent for 18 months, and tenants at nearby 1074 Eastern Parkway joined them in February. Residents of the third building at 1018 Eastern Parkway – where the ceiling has caved in twice in the last year – will begin their rent strike at a rally on Sunday.

“When you don’t have safety in your own home, it really gets to you,” said Monique Roberts, a tenant advocate with H.O.P.E. “It’s a low-level kind of harassment that weighs you down.”

Roberts has been helping the mostly immigrant, working-class tenants fight to fix and renovate their homes, which they hope to one day convert into a cooperative.